I’ve been labouring away on this review for over a week now, mostly because I want to make sure that my words do the album, ‘Lost Songs’ by …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (henceforth just Trail of Dead), justice.
I have always maintained that I am not a critic when I write for Echoes and Dust, and I rarely have anything negative to say about any of the music I review. So, I am not really the most objective person when it comes to music, and especially when it comes to great music from great bands like Trail of Dead. I don’t want to gush too much, but ‘Lost Songs’ is the best album I have heard all year, and 2012 has been a good year for good music!
I was a little late in arriving to the Trail of Dead party, having only really become familiar with them when their last full-length album, ‘Tao of the Dead’, came out. In fact, I think I bought it based on the E&D review of it! I love that album, and based on how good it was, I started exploring the Trail of Dead back catalogue. I was pleased with the diversity of the music, with their grungier, post-hardcore early sounds evolving continuously into the proggier, spacier ‘Tao’, while still containing whispers and hints of thrash and guitar-driven rock.
Trail of Dead‘s early albums don’t have great production quality, and the music, while already technically sound and astutely constructed, had a punk rock visceral quality that was not as apparent as they made more and more albums. Their nearly perfect album, ‘Source Tags and Codes’ from 2002, marked another step in their evolution, with polished and flowing riffs and more complex song structure becoming the norm.
I am here to tell you that ‘Lost Songs’ is Trail of Dead‘s best to date. I get really excited about albums this good, meaning on par with a ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ or ‘Revolver’, but I also get a little worried; too many times to count, a favourite band creates their magnum opus, only to break up or fade out afterwards. I really hope that this is not the case with ‘Lost Songs’ and Trail of Dead. It’s just that good, and it makes me smile.
The opening track, ‘Open Doors’ starts out sounding like it’s going to rehash the intro track on ‘Tao’, but quickly launches into the guitar-dominated tune. This track is so much more serious and less playful than the tongue-in-cheek ‘Pure Radio Cosplay’ from ‘Tao’, and when you read the lyrics, you can understand why. This is a protest song of sorts, and Trail of Dead are pissed off that the status quo is acceptable. That anger, or at least critical urgency, is a theme on the first part of the album.
Next up, ‘Pinhole Camera’ (a jaded look at our technology-dominated society) and ‘Up to Infinity’ (about the Civil War in Syria) keep the tempo and sneer going. It is about halfway through ‘Infinity’, every time, that I think to myself: This sounds like Fugazi. And I love Fugazi like few other bands. I was really pleased to see that, in the liner notes, Trail of Dead list Fugazi first among their influences. Not only is the sound reminiscent of Fugazi, the questions, like ‘Can we believe what we see?’ are as well.
‘Opera Obscura’ keeps the album going with machine-gun drums and frenetic guitars; It’s followed by a New Wavy, and way too short title track ‘Lost Songs’, which is catchy as hell. Parts of it remind me of Joy Division and contemporaries. What follows, though, is the brooding ‘Flower Card Games’, building from hypnotic to urgent throughout. This is my favourite track at the moment, after throwing me for a bit of a loop initially.
The rest of the album continues in the flow, with ‘A Place to Rest’ (about Game of Thrones), and ‘Heart of Wires’ flowing seamlessly. ‘Catatonic’ returns to the social criticism motif, railing at the empty, passive and dispassionate in the world. Plus, it’s got a genius riff and some guitar effects that make it great. ‘Awestruck’, written as an admonishment to people to get out of their boxes and see the world, features great bass lines and overall has a more hopeful vibe. It’s soaring and beautiful.
‘Bright Young Things’ is a tribute to Trail’s main base of operations, Austin, Texas (as well as Conrad Keely’s recent travels in Cambodia, which influenced a lot of the album). But this track is also a criticism of the university system, making students financially insolvent for their educations.
Finally, ‘Time and Again’ is a tribute to all the folks that have made parts of the journey with Trail of Dead. It’s as close to folky and jaunty as Trail of Dead come, and would be almost unidentifiable as their song if you heard it on the radio.
Although I have really tried, my words can’t even begin to explain or impart the quality of ‘Lost Songs’; Trail of Dead have successfully combined the rawer elements of their origins (near the birthplace of Grunge — they cite The Melvins and KARP as influences), with refinement and virtuosity; On top of that already-formidable combo, Trail of Dead have added activism and a bit of righteous indignation to the mix. According to everything I have read, this is a band that puts its money where its mouth is, not just writing songs about societal issues, but doing things to effect change.
I couldn’t be more excited about this record, and about seeing Trail of Dead live again in November. Buy, and treasure, this album.
Released October 22nd on Inside Out Music.
Posted by Jake Gillen.
